Raising the stakes: Meduza uncovers why the Russian State Duma asked Putin to recognize the breakaway ‘republics’ in eastern Ukraine

The tensions surrounding the Russia-Ukraine crisis have continued to escalate with no end in sight. On Thursday, February 17, U.S. President Joe Biden said that there's still a "very high" threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, warning that this could happen "in the next several days." The Kremlin, meanwhile, underscored that it has no plans of backtracking on its demands for comprehensive security guarantees from Washington and NATO. Moscow raised the stakes again earlier this week when the State Duma adopted an official resolution urging President Vladimir Putin to recognize the self-proclaimed "republics" in eastern Ukraine. Meduza special correspondent Andrey Pertsev uncovers why this step was taken and how it was orchestrated. Original Article: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/02/18/raising-the-stakes